July 4, 1922 – November 23, 2020
Roy V. Berglund ’54 was born July 4, 1922, in Seattle, Washington, and died Nov. 23, 2020, at age 98.
Dr. Berglund graduated from Queen Anne High School, and started to attend the University of Washington while working full time in a radio shop. However, his college education was interrupted by the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, based stateside in Santa Ana, California, working as a medical lab technician.
Subsequently, he graduated from La Sierra College in 1949 and attended the College of Medical Evangelists (CME) in Loma Linda, graduating in 1954. While he was happy and proud to consider himself a medical evangelist, some foreign countries did not want to accept medical evangelists, so CME later made updated diplomas available for graduates.
Dr. Berglund met Leona Carscallen, and they married on Sept. 4, 1962. A year later, their first son, David, was born. Two years after that, their second son, John, was born.
Dr. Berglund built Crestview Convalescent Hospital in Rialto, California, from the ground up. He and Leona ran it for many years, as well as a retirement home which they later built on the same property. Dr. Berglund loved to go for walks and was very health conscious. He regularly took his family to Yosemite for hikes up Mist Trail to Vernal Falls and a few times climbed to the top of Half Dome. In later years, he enjoyed attending cardiology meetings in Yosemite.
He dedicated his life to the service of people’s health, working in medical relief mission fields and filling in for missionary doctors who needed to return home on furlough. This led to him serving in the mission field for months at a time, in Sri Lanka in 1972, Vietnam in 1974, Thailand in 1979-80, Taiwan in 1983, Zambia in 1986, and Palau in 2001.
He was very generous and opened his home to many young people who needed a place to stay while continuing their education. He is deeply missed.
Dr. Berglund is survived by his wife, two sons, and seven grandchildren.